Agraquest is the biotechnology company that searches throughout the world for the "novel" microorganism (fungus, bacteria) to be used in the place of chemicals for diseases of plants and insect control. Although not known unless it has affected someone close to you, these plant diseases also produce diseases in humans as well. Remember, when a new microorganism is found it has to be screened and identified (if possible) and then it is tested on various bacteria and fungal diseases of plants or against insects. This took place in David's workplace environment at Agraquest. David Bell and many other microbiologist like him are exposed daily, and more times than not, without knowledge to these human disease producing microorganisms that are in their workplace environment.
Where does Agraquest "search" for the "novel" microorganism? [Meaning of "novel"; "of a new kind; different from anything seen or known before"] Agraquest and/or it’s representatives have made public where they search for these microorganisms in soil, plants, plant roots, lichen, leaves and/or it’s litter, mulch and other decaying organic matter, fruit, bird feathers, dead insects, lake beds, forests, dunes and ocean caves, animals from terrestrial sources, marine sources (sponges, sea urchins, etc.) insects of all kinds, rain forests, jungles, dry creek beds, orchards, farm fields, and gardens. This is only what has been published. (This information was obtained through searching articles and interviews by or about Agraquest. (This information was obtained through searching articles and interviews by or about Agraquest. “Excerpts” from these references can be viewed [ HERE ]
Included within these "excerpts" is the article: "March of agricultural technology continues, Bio-warriors come in from the cold" (August 24, 2000) in which states:
•"Partnering in the project with Davis, CA-based AgraQuest are Drs. Elena Stepanova and Elena Ryabchikova, State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology ("Vector"), New Siberia Region, Russia."
•"[Vector} once a top secret biological warfare research facility in the Soviet Union"
Also included in the "excerpts" in the article, "Recruiting microbes to do the dirty work";By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com - April 11, 2006 in which states:
•"The microbe for root-knot nematodes studied at AgraQuest was discovered in an Eastern European creek by scientists once associated with a bioweapons lab in Siberia. The company's first product, Serenade, derives from a microorganism found in a peach orchard near Fresno, Calif., where a farmer had noted that a particular strand of trees never got hit with the dreaded brown rot. And the active ingredient in a fungicide called Sonata is a patented strain of Bacillus pumilus, originally found in a garden in Micronesia."
Agraquest's product QST 20,799 is the fungus, muscodor albus that was found in a cinnamon tree in Hondurus.
The point is that microbes, fungus and bacteria from locations from the around the world have been and still are at the Agraquest lab. These are "known", "WHAT" are the "unknown"?
The 1998 web archive of the article, " Hunting for Microbes ” written by Ralph Sinbaldi (founding Vice President of AgraQuest) further documents where Agraquest does it’s searching for the “novel” microorganism. Quoting from this article:
"Our goal is to isolate 20,000 microbes by August 1996. AQ already has agreements to obtain a comparable number of microbes through outside collaborations. We have already established cooperative discovery efforts with several groups and are getting microbes from exotic locations like New Zealand, the Amazon and Mexico.” , “Soil is a good source of microbes and is one of our primary sources" and "AQ is collaborating with Dr. Ted Molinski of the University of California, Davis in our search for marine microbes.”
Because Agraquest "brings in" or "receives" microorganisms (fungus, bacteria etc.)" from other countries that are not endemic to the United States (the constant presence within a given geographic area or population group area), the question is, what was in the workplace environment that David Bell worked in? It is also in question whether the small laboratory of Agraquest at the Kennedy Place location had the proper bio safety levels as required by law. How can an area that is zoned "residential" and "offices" be deemed the proper location for a biological laboratory where so many "unknown" microorganisms were?
Dr. Larry Rose, the author of "CalOSHA: Going Down the Tubes? and prior to his retirement was the senior Public Medical Officer (Chief of the Medical Unit) for the statewide Cal-OSHA enforcement program for 28 years is very clear in expressing his concerns on these issues in his interview by Steve Zeltzer on the May 2008 Labor on the Job Video Project, "Workers Comp, The Destruction Of Ca-OSHA/EPA And The Case of David Bell".
In this extremely compelling video concerning David Bell's workplace at Agraquest, Dr. Rose said among other things;
"First off, if you’re using pathogenic organisms that’s not exactly organic…. that’s a risk not only the environment, the workers… but also possibly the food Consumers as well.”
“I’d like to inject here that the way they classify biosafety in labs is they classify it 1 through 4. Say the most hazardous, say like anthrax would be a 4 so you have to have like space suits and total control. Now if these were pathogens he [David Bell] was working with it sounds that should rate very high in biosafety requirements.”
"If they’re [Agraquest] using potentially pathogenic microorganisms to spread on… you know, vast areas of the environment in relation to say, specific what they call pests the first thing you would have to determine if OSHA went in there… and what I can…. I’ll get the record but from what I can tell first thing they would’ve had to have was either a microbiologist or a Doctor, a public health Doctor to look at how pathogenic are these organisms. Are they as bad as, say Anthrax? Could they be? And then you have to determine do they have the proper level of bio safety? And then you don’t go and just look at the face velocity of a vertical lamenter flow hood… that’s nonsense! What you do is then you go back and you say, “you’ve got the wrong level”, you cite them and you require them to get the right level of bio safety and the other things… not spread the agent around in the neighborhood and that would be the Approach…. and if they don’t have a Doctor at Cal/OSHA to do that or…. you know…. then … they’re going in blind.”
“When you’re called in and a worker has possibly picked up a very serious infectious disease from the work Process, you don’t just go in and measure a face velocity and give a tag. You’ve gotta do some… you know real investigation. Go over all the medical records and you’ve got to get the Organism and submit it to the proper lab to determine it’s pathogenicity. In other words, there’s a series of steps you would take because you’re not only trying to protect all the workers there now and future workers, but you also have to protect the community when you’re talking about an infectious disease, this is a serious public health matter."
"So, looking at what OSHA did, and I’m just astounded that they had that kind of very weak response, inappropriate response according to the law."
"The law states that you have to have to go through this kind of process and you certainly can’t fire a worker whose complaining."
"Also, OSHA should have responded within 72 hours, that’s required by law in this kind of.. you know, complaint. I don’t know what they Were doing, but they obviously handled the thing illegally.”
